Page 159 - Ciancia, On Civilization's Edge

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borders. In all of these localities, the populations were usually a combination of Christians of
various nationalities (recorded in the archival files as Ukrainians, Poles, and Germans), although

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Wełnianka also had a large number of Jews.
Almost immediately, however, the settlements’ inhabitants began to send appeals to higher-

level administrative offices in an attempt to discredit the vote and assert that their rural interests did

not align with those of the town. In one letter, which was sent to the Council of Ministers in Warsaw

on November 7, 1931, the inhabitants of the villages of Jurydyka and Załobowo and the colony of

Nowe Załobowo, who signed their names by hand at the bottom, criticized poor urban administration

and alluded to their expectations of what a town should provide for its inhabitants. Significantly,

while they opposed the plans of provincial elites, they echoed the prevailing language about the town

as a failure. During the ten years in which the town authorities had existed, they argued, the town had

become debt-ridden and had been unable to build an elementary school, a proper building for the

town authorities, and other social and educational institutions. They also claimed that they were poor

farmers who would be burdened by increased taxation and could have nothing to do with the “Jewish

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traders” of the town. The provincial authorities dismissed such appeals, arguing that the villagers’

feared tax burdens would not materialize and that the Jewish members of Rożyszcze’s town council,

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who were also opposed to the annexation, were afraid of the increase in Christians.

67 “Wyciąg z protokołu L.10. posiedzenia Rady Gminnej Gminy Rożyszcze, powiatu Łuckiego, odbytego dniu 30
października 1931 roku,” AAN MSW (Part 1) 298 [no pagination]. Note that I am using the names of these
settlements as they are recorded in this document. In other contexts, the spelling and diacritics were slightly
different.
68 According to undated statistics in the archival files, which listed the combined population of the village of
Załobow and the colony of Nowe Załobów, the vast majority of the 1,404 inhabitants were were classed as
Ukrainians (65 percent), while the remainder was made up of Poles (16 percent), Germans (12 percent), and a small
number of Jews, Russians, and Czechs. AAN MSW (Part 1) 298.
69 Letter from the gromada (village assembly) of Załobów, Nowe Załobów, and Jurydyka to the council of Ministers
in Warsaw (November 7, 1931), AAN MSW (Part 1) 298.
70 Letter from the governor’s office to the Ministry of the Interior in Warsaw (December 31, 1931), AAN MSW
(Part 1) 298.

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